


Believe in the Rhythm

by Betery



Series: Highnoon in the Universe [14]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender, overwatch
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 01:51:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14683941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Betery/pseuds/Betery
Summary: Music has been part of Lance's life for almost as long as he can remember; and he wants to share that with his family on the Castle of Lions.





	Believe in the Rhythm

**Author's Note:**

> On the 24th it'll be one whole year of me writing for Highnoon. I'm glad that all of you have stuck with me and have had patience with me as I've been updating this series! I hope you enjoy this installment.

**Gibraltor was a pretty fun place, and one of the fun-est people on the whole compound _had_ to be Lucio. He didn’t hang around much having many other types of responsibilities. Lance had asked one time what they were and Lucio had leaned in real close, looking around to make sure that no one was around to listen in and then whispered, “Cranking up those TUNES MAN!!” His voice ending in a crescendo that startled Lance so bad he nearly lost his balance. They both laughed it off. **

**It was a particularly peaceful afternoon of Lance hanging out in the mess hall when Lucio smoothly slides into the room on his skates, “Yo Rein, you got any good grub for Lunch? I’m _starving._ ” **

**“Ah, Lucio!” Rein greeted from the kitchen area, tongs in hand from flipping some sausages over on the stove. “I am making some hearty potatoes and sausage! We must keep our strength up after all!”**

**Lucio cackled and agreed, “Sounds good, buddy.” He flashed finger guns at Rein with a wink, “Set me up with that.” Reinhardt nodded returning the finger guns with an attempt of his own the hand he used still wrapped around the tongs in and he turned to prepare the plate of food.**

**Lucio turned around and lit up when he saw Lance, “Hey!” He called and waved, heading over and sitting at the table lance was sat at.**

**“How’s it going? Been a while! Last I saw you I swear you were an inch shorter!” He playfully punched Lance in the shoulder. Lance puffed up his chest, smirking.**

**“It’s the cowboy genes in me. I’m gonna keep growing up for a while.” Pa had even mentioned that maybe Lance would outgrow _him_ at some point; his eyes crinkling at the edges the way they did when he was super proud of Lance.**

**Lucio nodded sagely, “Your pops is pretty smart and knows what he’s talking about.”**

**There’s a stretch of silence. One minute, two. Ana came in then heading for the kitchen and tinkering around in the kitchen. She got down the kettle probably for some tea and was started going through the cups the porcelain clinking together periodically as she made her choice while the water heated up during this adventure Lucio’s leg started to bounce. How long would Lucio last?**

**Ana finishes making her tea and makes her way to her usual table in the back setting her cup down with a soft _tink._ She takes a book out of her pocket and begins to read, softly shuffiling the pages as she finished with that page. **

**Lucio stood up so fast his chair flew back, “You know what, this place could use some tunes. Rein! Where’s that stereo of yours.” Lucio whips out a flash drive from seemingly nowhere. “Cause I’m gonna liven up this place.”**

**Rein shuffles in the back and heaves a stereo up on the bar.**

**“Do what you wish! Just be sure to eat before the food gets cold!” Rein chortles, reaching behind him and set a plate of steaming food down in front of Lucio who gladly takes a bite of the potatoes.**

**“I think we have a deal.” He says before plugging in the tunes and working his magic. The entire mess hall filled up with energetic synth music and Lucio cheered!**

**“Now that’s what I’m talking about!”**

**Ana scoffs in her corner, drinking her cup of tea, eyes narrowed in disapproval.**

**“What your generation calls music I will never understand.”**

**“Oh come on Anna, give yourself to the rhythm. Here, maybe _this_ one will heal your soul up a little.” And he switches the song up, and this time it’s more soothing the soft sound creating a much softer atmosphere. Lance can feel himself calming down from that rush of the other song. **

**Ana hums and drinks from her cup again, but Lance clearly notices how her expression softens to the tune.**

**“Everyone’s got their tastes.” Lucio grins, bumping into Lance’s side, “But that doesn’t mean all of one genre is bad, you just gotta find the right tune!”**

**Lance filed that information for later, maybe it could work on more than music. Maybe battle strategies, or flirting. He could test out different ways to talk to people and see how they react!**

**He was so lost in thought that Lucio ruffled Lance’s hair to get his attention, “What’s got you all Zenned out? I was just about to crank up the tunes!”**

**Lance shook his head and got up from his seat, “Who me? You gotta me joking! You know what- let’s have a dance battle.”**

**“Oh your ON pretty boy.” Lucio cackles turning up the dial.**

**\--**

Getting used to having all his memories back was a little bit of a task for Lance, but all things considered he was pretty sure he was handling it pretty well.

“We can call you by your chosen name if you prefer.” Allura offered after he hadn’t answered to ‘Lance’ on the first go or the second time.

“No need princess.” Lance assured, “I’ve been Lance my whole life minues a month of it. I’ll adjust back.” This didn’t seem to really assure her but she agrees anyway.

“Perhaps when you are well rested we can start your training again.”

“I’m pretty peachy Princess, but I appreciate the time off.” The expression of confusion on her face was probably worth having all his memories wiped out.

When he got to the mess hall the whole crew was there and hunk had gone _all out_ with the feast. Meats and veggies piled high on plates that looked like they were cooked every-which-way.

“The people on Nessus gave us almost like... a month’s supply of food! Even gave us food we can grow _ourselves._ ” Hunk gushed, and Lance stabbed at a chunk of something that looked similar to a potato and gave it a nibble. It was tender and had a nice spice to it. Lance helped himself a little more to the stuff.

\--

Life was moving on as normal: training sessions, eating with the Voltron family, sleeping.

Well, sleeping was a bit of a problem. Almost a whole month of being around people and the constant chatter really reminded Lance just how unnerving the silence of space was.

Currently he was lying in bed starring at the ceiling his eyes stubbornly squeezed shut attempting to reach for a shred of sleep. No matter how hard he tried though, the silence bore down all around him pushing him back to wakefulness.

Lance huffed and sat up and rubbing his face. “Quiet.” He mutters, “It’s too _quiet_.”

Frustrated, he flings the blankets back and stumbles out of the bunk, sliding his feet in his slippers, heading over to his nightstand where he normally kept Pidge’s headphones.

He opened the draw and- empty. Maybe Pidge had taken the device back when he was gone? If they hadn’t been sure if he would be coming back it would make sense. A small pang zipped in his heart at the little faith Pidge seemed to have in him but it made sense. With a sigh he exits his room; if Pidge had the headphones, he was going to have to pry them away with promises of favors to be a test subject in the future.

“Pidge?” He called, entering the little gremlins room all the lights were off except for a blue glow in one of the far corners. Said gremlin was typing away, the blue screen making white skin even pastier. Crow, what could that be doing to Pidge’s eyesight?

“Pidge I need your headphones, I can’t sleep.” He bemoans to them, sauntering over putting on an overbearing performance before draping over Pidge’s back.

“I fear if I don’t get some real sleep soon then I’m gonna wither away!”

Pidge huffed, not looking up from their laptop, “You won’t wither from one night of lack of sleep. But here.” Without looking they reach over and grab the precious technology. One handed they finish typing and they turn to face Lance giving to him from a better angle. “I improved the pads on it to make it softer, and…here.” They reach into their pocket and pull out a tiny Altean looking device. It was smooth and when Pidge pressed the middle on it the whole device projected an interactable interface above, “A music device for the ages.” Pidge gushes, flipping through the various songs and different modes, “Coran showed it to me. While you were gone I complied a TON of playlists. Cause. You know, it gave me something to do while you were gone. There’s some ambiance music in there of some kind of ocean. It’s not an earth one but I think it’ll have the same-“ Lance wrapped Pidge up in a hug and squeezed them close; his heart ready to BURST.

“You are the best tech gremlin a guy could ask for.” He gushed releasing his victim, “What else is on here?”

Pidge shrugged, “Pretty much all the music on my laptop which is isn’t as much as you would think but I like being well rounded so there’s a good chunk of it from different decades.” She smirks, “Luckily I got Lucio’s albums on there. Matt got em’ for me to study to. It’s totally awesome.”

Okay. Hold the phone. Do Alteans have phones? Not important.

“Pidge.” Lance says looking at them reverently, “Pidge I have a great idea.”

\--

That morning Lance cornered Coran, “Coran my dude, I need you to do me a solid. Are there any instruments in this castle? Anywhere?” There had to be. The castle was HUGE. Hopefully they were intact or reparable but if Lance’s idea as going to work he needed access to them. Or he had to somehow get pidge to make him a guitar out of some spare parts or something.

“Hm…” Coran stroked his chin, “I do recall a musical recreation room. I’m not sure It’ll have any instruments you’re familiar with though. But for the sake of doing ‘a solid’ for you. I will endeavor to comply!” Coran claps his hands cheerfully and Project Dance Party was a GO. Lance eagerly followed Coran to the music room, and when presented with the options his jaw dropped a little.

“When you said I wouldn’t know how to play..?”

“I meant that quite truly.” Coran assures, and he wasn’t kidding. Some of the shapes in the instrument room looked down right…Suessean. Like something out of the Grinch who Stole Christmas. They curved in places that Lance wasn’t sure was to create specific sounds or if it was purely for decoration.

Lance frowned, and he hesitantly looked at Coran, “Do you have anything…simpler?”

Coran twirled his mustache in thought, “We do have some hand held string instruments, but generally children use them, or for acoustic concerts which are less com-“

“Show them to me.” Coran as usual led the way to the back part of the room behind the twisting brass instruments and strangely curved drums, peaking behind a perfectly circular xylophone was a small collection of Lance’s current holy grail.

He zeroed in on one particular instrument. The shape was different, but it was definitely a guitar. He brushed his fingers along he neck, ignoring the decorative curls and he took hold of it, putting the strap over his neck and gave the strings a strum.

\--

**Then:**

**The few times that Pa came around he always tried to spend time with Lance, teaching him something new and fun or telling him a story of some sort about his adventures. Sometimes he spent time with his Mom and they shared a couples laughs or a meal.**

**Lance loved listening to his Pa play the guitar, it was like listening to magic. The same hands that Lance knows can pull a trigger quicker than any other man on earth could weave all kinds of tunes from the strings of a guitar; and Lance desperately wanted to learn how to do that too.**

**“Pa?” He asked one evening, “Could you teach me?”**

**Pa raised his eyebrows assessing Lance for a minute probably looking for sincerity. He tried to make himself look as earnest a possible. He widened his eyes and widened his stance. Pa then grinned and reached over to ruffle Lance’s hair. “Sure scamp, I’ll have you playin’ with the best of em’ in no time.”**

**Turned out learning how to play wasn’t easy, it hurt his fingers and he couldn’t remember the chords very well. Even when Pa was off somewhere and he wanted to quite Mama and Abuelita didn’t let him. ‘Have you played today Mijo?’ ‘I don’t hear any guitar strings!’ or some variant.**

**“Just think,” Mama says sitting Lance on the bed encouraging him to grab his guitar, “,by the time Jesse gets back you could play him a brand new song.” Mama encouraged as Lance plucked forlornly at the strings, he smiled into the kiss that Mama pressed against his forehead though. Her kisses were the best.**

**The next day Mama held a book in front of Lance’s face. _“How to Play guitar, beginners Guide!”_ with a little cartoon boy on the front, music notes coming from his instrument. **

**He _would_ learn how to play before Pa came back!**

**To reiterate: learning the chords was difficult, and he still couldn’t read music very well, but he was determined! So, he started humming out the tune to a song that he remembered his Pa playing and trying to find the sounds to identify them better.**

**“You’re getting better Lance.” His Abuelita praised entering his room with a plate of cookies. Lance gratefully took one of the pastries and smiled thankful for the small distraction. “Thanks. Pa’s supposed to be coming soon and I wanna have a new song ready for him.”**

**Abuelita smiles and sits on the bed next to him. “You know, your Abuelo used to play the guitar. Oh he would serenade me for _hours_ when we were teenagers. I’m glad that has moved on to you mijo, it’s almost like having a part of him here with me again.” And she leans over kissing the side of his head, “Can I hear you play?” **

**Lance grinned and played one of the few songs he knew by heart.**

\--

Now:

Lance plucked at the strings listening to the personality of the instrument; to hear what it could handle and what sounds it preferred. It reminded him of his Abuelita, older and stubborn. _Don’t underestimate me Niño._

Oh, he would definitely not underestimate this gal. It wouldn’t be giving her the respect she deserved.

“It’s perfect Coran, thanks.” He his voice choked a little and he cleared his throat trying to pass it off as a throat issue. Coran smiled and nodded.

“Good to know, now...Shall we head back?”

As they walked Lance was thinking of all _kinds_ of things they could do for the party he was planning. He needed to get pidge to make a DJ booth of some kind. If anyone could pull it off it would be pidge.

The day finally started to wane into simulated evening and Lance was vibrating in his shoes. He had convinced Hunk to make all kinds of snacks without telling him why they needed them, and Pidge was getting the room all up and ready. (DJ booth included!). Lance had been practicing one of Lucio’s songs on the guitar to get it just right for the opening- oh this was going to be GREAT.

The time was drawing near, and hunk was guiding Shiro and Keith into the room. Both looked apprehensive due to the dimmed lights.

Lance looked around one last time to see if everything was ready. Lighting- check Snacks- check, Music? Almost there. Lance took a breath, centering his nerves.

Time for some razzle dazzle he opened his eyes and he gave pidge the signal. Pidge nodded and flipped a switch; lights danced across the ceiling and a bass started thumping in the space making a good tempo. Lance filled it with the melody of his guitar and upbeat tune that Lance keenly remembers as being impossible NOT to dance to.

“Who’s ready to give yourself to the rhy-th-UM!” he calls to his mini crowd grinning from ear to ear.

Allura and Coran stood to the side eyebrows raised and looking around a bit in awe but a little bit weary at the light show. Coran after taking it all in crowed happily clapping his hands giving his hips a wiggle, “This impressive, m’boy! We all deserve a little party don’t you think, Allura?”

Allura had a wonder-shocked smile on her face blinked back into awareness, “Of. Of course, just know that if the castle gets invaded we’ll need to act fast.”

Always the worry-wart. Lance got it, he did but they needed time to _relax._ So of course, he ramps up the charm and strums his guitar with that much more flair; Lance swaying his hips as he makes long strides to the princess’ side. “Come on Allura, lighten up! It’s a party and we’re in a relatively safe area of space.”

Allura rolls her eyes and shakes her head a bit but a smile is tugging at her lips, “Hand me that instrument and I’ll show _you_ how to ‘Give yourself to the Rhythm.’” Lance obliged, excited to see the results. He looked around at his friends and after having gone through so much, it was worth to see everyone relaxing like this. For a moment it was almost like being on earth again.

**Author's Note:**

> So what did you think? Leave a comment and a Kudos! If you're feeling generous you can pop on down to my K-Fi and give me a tip! Any little bit helps. https://ko-fi.com/A22449SL


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